


Lovebirds

by BlackCats



Category: Gatchaman Crowds
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and stuff, Relationship Study, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 19:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3540575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCats/pseuds/BlackCats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their relationship's a bit of an amusing one, they both learn--it usually develops slowly, yet some parts also happen quickly; just...all at once.<br/>(Hajime, Sugane, and escalations of touch.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lovebirds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Utsutsusu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Utsutsusu/gifts).



-1-

She never really pushes the issue, so they develop slowly, and that’s perfectly fine with her.

It starts with her simply sitting beside him. Sugane is so polite, so old-fashioned, he always wants to maintain a certain amount of distance because he thinks it’s the right thing to do—and he’s not _wrong_ per se, but it’s not the right thing to do with _Hajime_ , and she lets him know that by breaking the invisible wall herself.

So she places herself near him. Often. On the floor, on the train, in the hallways at school where their shoulders can bump and brush and he can shy nervously away from her because he’s not _used_ to this sort of thing, and she’s okay with that, because she’s as patient as she needs to be.

Sometimes he gives her this side glance, as if he’s trying to figure her out, and she only answers with a blithe smile and a small giggle that makes him grumble.

Some days, he doesn’t move away at all, and she savors these moments thoroughly; a piece of candy to be rolled around along her tongue.

One rainy afternoon finds her reclining near him as he polishes his sword, and she just drops right there onto his shoulder, and he—

He slows down for a moment, then permits it, finding his rhythm again soon enough.

(He probably thinks she can’t see his smile but her peripheral vision is _real_ good, and she grins because he’s making a point out of not looking at all.)

-2-

They clear the slope of Sugane’s initial discomfort, and now it’s all downhill in the best way possible.

There’s frequent touches. Little things, cute things, eliciting blushes on both ends; (Sugane seems to enjoy making her flustered—she had no idea he was such a bully!) But it’s…nice, being able to link an arm around his, and recline against his shoulder, and lie upon his lap so she can look up at his face and watch the way the stern lines in his brows soften over time.

Sometimes they come back from a bout of Gatchaman heroics and Hajime patches him up when the wounds aren’t serious enough to require Utsu-tsu’s intervention. She’ll carefully disinfect the scrapes and apply little bandages stamped with puppies and sunflowers—much to Sugane’s chagrin—kissing the area around the abrasion as she sings his name under her breath in a blissful murmur that turns his ears red every time.

And once it’s all over, her administrations drawing to a close…

She tidies him up. He’ll stand, she’ll look up at him, and she’ll start smoothing out the wrinkles in his clothing. Adjusting his shirt’s collar, fingers brushing against his chin and neck as she does so. She’ll even rise to the tips of her toes and comb back any dislodged hairs, setting the blonde tresses back into place before she loops her arms around his neck and beams up at him.

(He always looks at her so _fondly_ then, and Hajime feels her insides melt in a rush of rising warmth. He’s not good with words but he says more with a look than she can, she thinks, and he always says an _awful lot_ that way.)

And she—

Likes something simple from him, as well.

He links their hands when they’re walking to the NEST and does this little…this little _thing_ , where he swings their joined fingers and palms and lets her set the pace, giving her that same sideways glance as if she’s too bright to look at head-on and he has to prepare himself for doing so later. He’s tall and solemn and sort of grumpy at times but no matter his mood, he makes a point to do this with her every day, and she appreciates it almost as much as what _always_ comes next.

It’s a little kiss to the top of her head. A small gesture, so simple, but Sugane applies it with a slow fondness that causes the feeling to linger far longer than it has a right to. Again and again it causes a blush from her, and again and again he looks _awfully_ triumphant.

On the way down, in the elevator, she often gets him back with a peck to the cheek.

(He rolls his eyes but he’s so, _so_ happy, every time.)

-3-

The first time they kiss, it’s a little…it’s a little bit of _something_ that’ll turn into a _lot_ ; (even a small piece proves to be enough for their first time.)

Their kisses exchanged on the cheek, the forehead, the hand? They pale in comparison to _this_ , to the sensation of lips against lips, when Sugane finally braves the next step in their relationship that they entered at some _point_ , some _how_ , when familiarity turned into necessity, and curiosity became desire.

It starts with a quiet moment on the apartment’s patio and a flawless view of the blue sky. It continues with his hand beneath her chin and their eyes connecting, it goes on to entail locked gazes and mingling breaths and that _voice_ inside of her that complains about anything and everything—

But Sugane’s focus is only on her. She didn’t realize until that very moment how badly she _needed_ that, needed _him_ , _needed_ someone to hold her to them and let her feel like _just_ _Hajime_ for a few precious minutes in the day.

And when the feeling hits them both, it becomes impossible to ignore.

The first time they kiss, it’s quick, a grand moment that changes them both with all the implications it carries. The second time, the third, the fourth, it’s all still so _new_ , so fascinating, so they never hold it for very long.

She starts to enjoy pushing her hands through his hair and pulling her body up against his; he’s so lanky, so wiry, but the warmth of him settles into her and she just wants to stay like that forever. Sugane, for his part, always has his hands on her back, on her waist, gently curved upon her face—it’s like he’s afraid, or simply cautious, but it speaks volumes and volumes and she pours _volumes_ of emotion right back into him, humming his name, the vibration of their voices filling each other’s ears.

(They’re both often red in the face after that, when the moment’s passed and they’re left with that awkwardness that _she_ can play around with, but _he_ tries to escape as soon as possible; they always ends up laughing, in the end.)

-4-

By the time they finally escalate from regular kissing, their relationship’s old news to everyone but themselves. None of the others pay their antics any sort of attention, though O.D. exchanges sly remarks with Rui-kun at times. Their playful comments are always taken in stride.

The experimenting starts slowly, but when it _starts_ , it’s just—

It’s just a competition to see who can make the other blush harder. It’s a game steeped deeply in their own sort of innocence, but something she enjoys playing regardless.

There’s this, this _thing_ that Sugane does, where he presses his nails into the base of her spine and trails _slowly_ up the length of her back, and it’s…it’s a lot of… _oh_ , just _oh_ , and she has to try not to think about the moments _around_ those moments or she’s guaranteed to light up like a firework, much to Sugane’s delight; (she’ll huff at him and puff her cheeks out and he just smirks in response, all the time, without fail. He’s a bully, senpai’s a _bully_ , and she wants this fact to be known.)

She gets back at him, though. _Really_ , she does, because she knows he likes those kisses to his neck, his collarbone, fluttering feather-light and teasing nips—he can’t deny it since he makes this _sound_ , like a groan but not; it's low and flustered and it makes his fingers twitch a bit in a way that she _feels_ , sometimes, depending on what he’s doing with them. The sound tends to sit with her for a while, tucked into her chest where no one else can really hear it except for Berg-Katze, but they’re usually tuning everything out by then, so it's a pleasure all her own.

Sometimes she’ll make a little song out of his name when she’s nuzzling into his throat and feeling the pounding _jump-jump-jump_ of his pulse against her skin, and he’ll murmur her name back to her, over and over, like he’s afraid she’ll forget the sound of it.

(She never does, if only because she never forgets his voice, no matter what may happen between them, and that, and _this_.)

-5-

The first time it gets _there_ nearly catches them both off-guard, because it’s been quite some time since the first touching, the first holding, the first kissing and _learning_ and more and more and more, and yet—

When it happens, it’s a little awkward and amusing and interspersed with shy laughter that makes them both smile at one another, there in the semidarkness where it’s just _them_ —(there’s no alien listening in, by that point, and all parties involved are grateful.)

But they always end up thinking about it for quite some time later on, lying there after the fact, realizing that it still comes back down to the very first _first_ of their relationship; Hajime’s smile is echoed by Sugane with equal warmth, and neither could be happier.

(It’s returned to simply feeling comfortable beside one another, with the two of them in a familiar apartment and the sound of the rain outside.)

**Author's Note:**

> This ship's sort of underrated, so here's my contribution to this amusing pair, hopefully done in good taste! Gifted to my dear friend Nikko~


End file.
